Study: Only One-Third of Physicians Will Remain Independent by 2013

A recent report by Accenture found that only 33 percent of physicians will remain truly independent by 2013, down from 2009, when 43 percent of physicians were truly independent.

The report, "Clinical Transformation: Dramatic Changes as Physician Employment Grows," discusses some of the drivers of physician employment including relief from administrative burdens, greater access to health information technology and equipment, a more manageable work week and increased stability.

The report also outlined four recommendations for healthcare stakeholders under this new model of physician employment.

• Healthcare IT, medical device and pharmaceutical companies will need to understand the implications of proliferation of hospital-owned medical groups for their customer segmentation, go-to-market and distribution strategies.
• The payor sector will need to understand how to manage its client relationships and physician networks. As physicians increasingly associate with larger groups and health systems, payors will have to determine what integrated physician-hospital organizations’ greater negotiating leverage will mean for payors’ business strategies.
• Hospitals will want to determine how to recruit and retain enough physicians with the right skills to capitalize on high-growth-potential service lines such as cardiovascular care, orthopedics, cancer care and radiology.
• Physicians must ask what alignment model will best allow them to manage the trade-offs between autonomy and employment.

Read the report, "Clinical Transformation: Dramatic Changes as Physician Employment Grows" (pdf). 

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